Closed reinforcement fiber package, as well as chain packing consisting of such closed packages

ABSTRACT

Closed reinforcement fiber package includes a material disintegratable in concrete, such as fiber concrete. Reinforcing fibers are present in a loose form in the package. The reinforcing fibers may be provided in a substantially mutually parallel position in the package. The reinforcement fiber package may be provided in a chain packing or package including a number of such closed reinforcement fiber packages. The reinforcing fibers may be made of steel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application no. 10/687,973, filedOct. 20, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,001,657 to Dewinter, whichapplication is a continuation of application no. PCT/EP02/02455, filedMar. 5, 2002, and which U.S. application no. PCT/EP02/02455 claims thepriority of Belgium application no. 2001/0309, filed May 4, 2001, andeach of which is incorporated herein by reference.

This application relates to Applicant's co-pending application Ser. No.10/687,974, entitled “Method for Dosing Reinforcement Fibers for theManufacturing Fiber Concrete and the Chain Packing Used”, filed Oct. 20,2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,686 to Dewinter; that co-pendingapplication is a continuation of U.S. application no. PCT/EP02/04566,filed Apr. 24, 2002, which U.S. application no. PCT/EP02/04566 claimsthe priority of Belgium application no. 2001/0309, filed May 4, 2001.

The invention relates to a closed reinforcement fibre package consistingof a material disintegratable in fibre concrete, whereby the reinforcingfibres are present in a loose form in this package.

Such a closed reinforcement fibre package is already known fromDE-A-4.214.540 and WO 95/11861.

A disadvantage of the addition of reinforcing fibres in a loose formduring the concrete mixing operation for forming fibre concrete is thatthis process often results in a non-uniform dispersion or distributionof the reinforcing fibres in the formed fibre concrete.

The invention intends to avoid this aforementioned disadvantage.

Therefore, the invention proposes for a closed reinforcement fibrepackage mentioned in the opening lines that the reinforcing fibres areapplied in a substantially mutually parallel position in this package.

Preferred embodiments of the closed reinforcement fibre packageaccording to the invention are characterised in that the length of thereinforcing fibres substantially corresponds to the length of thepackage and that the fibres are situated lengthwise the package or thatthe length of the reinforcing fibres substantially corresponds to thewidth of the package and that the fibres are situated widthwise in thepackage.

It has now been found that an improved distribution or dispersion of thereinforcing fibres is obtained during the mixing operation of the fibreconcrete when the loose reinforcing fibres are supplied into theconcrete mixer in a substantially mutually parallel position or inclosed packages according to the invention.

It has to be noted that it is already known to pack such reinforcingfibres in a substantially mutually parallel position. This is a.o.described in BE-A-1.003.656 (8901350). In this case, the ends of theparallel reinforcing fibres are coated and connected to each other a.o.by a special glue.

This is also described in WO 96/02715. In this case, the parallelreinforcing fibres are surrounded by a special casing material, whereasthe ends of the parallel reinforcing fibres are not coated or surroundedby a casing material.

The great difference with the package according to the invention is thatthe package according to the invention is a closed package. A greatadvantage thereof is that the reinforcing fibres cannot be lost fromthis closed package during transport or the like. Therefore, such closedpackages can be used to form a chain packing according to the invention.

In another preferred embodiment of the package according to theinvention; the filling degree of the reinforcing fibres in the closedpackage is at least 75%.

In still another preferred embodiment of the package according to theinvention, the reinforcing fibres are steel fibres.

By fibre concrete, we understand all curing materials, provided withreinforcing fibres, such as steel fibres, glass fibres and syntheticfibres, such as polypropylene fibres to improve the properties of thecurable material.

This invention further relates to a chain packing consisting of a numberof closed packages according to the invention.

In a preferred embodiment of the chain packing according to theinvention, the packages are joined to each other.

In still a further preferred embodiment of the chain packing accordingto the invention; the packages are joined in line to each other.

A great advantage of such a chain packing according to the invention isthat it is now possible to supply an exact quantity of reinforcingfibres to the mixing silo or concrete mixer in a very simple way.

The supply of the exact quantity of reinforcing fibres, such as steelfibres, is extremely difficult. This is certainly the case when themixture operation is carried out on the building site itself.

Numerous solutions have already been proposed, such as EP-A-522.029 (WO91/14551); EP-A-499.572; EP-A-499.573; DE 29714704U; DE-A-3.412.216;DE-A-4.427.156; FR-A-2.672.045 and many other patent documents.

A disadvantage of these known solutions is that they all need a rathercomplex dosing machine or weighing machine.

Another disadvantage is that the dosing or weighing of reinforcingfibres in a concrete mixing plant or on a building yard is a cumbersomeand time-consuming operation.

Thanks to the use of such a chain packing according to the invention; itis now possible to supply an exact quantity of reinforcing fibres to themixing silo or concrete mixer in a very simple way. It is now possibleto supply a correct, well-defined quantity of reinforcing fibres in theclosed packages, such as sacks, during the manufacturing of thereinforcing fibres. This makes it possible to supply the exact quantityof reinforcing fibres to the mixing silo by means of a conveyor belt, aroll system or a similar alimentation device, in which the former dosingor weighing operations are replaced by a measuring operation of thelength of the continuous chain packing or a counting operation of thenumber of supplied packages to the mixing silo.

The invention will be further explained in the following description bymeans of the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing,

FIGS. 1 and 2 give a representation, both schematically and inperspective of the closed fibre packages and parts of the chain packingaccording to the invention.

In FIG. 1, the chain packing according to the invention is generallyindicated by 1. The chain packing consists of a large number of sacks 2that are joined together. The sacks 2 may be made of a material that canbe disintegrated in mortar or concrete. The sacks or packings 2 arecompletely closed.

As already mentioned above, it is already known to mix ingredients inconcrete, stored in sacks, such as e.g. cellulose, which disintegrate inwater. Preferably, a cellulose-based foil is used for the sacks 2; suchfoil will also be used as basic material for paper, possibly, such asknown in the paper branch of industry, with addition of water-solubleglue and fillers, which are harmless to the concrete. The sacks can e.g.be glued together and closed with water-soluble heat-adhesive. But it isclear that every foil that disintegrates in the concrete water withinthe usual mixing time can be used.

In FIG. 1, the reinforcing fibres, packed in the sacks 2, are indicatedby 3. The reinforcing fibres 3 can be made of all sorts of materials.This depends on the demands required of the fibres and on the fibreconcrete to be reinforced. Preferably, steel reinforcing fibres 3 areused, sold amongst others by the applicant N.V. Bekaert S.A. under thebrand name DRAMIX. Mostly, steel fibres 3 are used with a tensile forcecomprised e.g. between 500 and 3000 N/mm².

The used fibres can e.g. be straight. This is the simplest and cheapestversion of reinforcing fibres that can be used for reinforcement.Preferably, the reinforcing fibres 3 have a form that makes it ratherdifficult to pull them out of the cured concrete material using atensile strain. To that end, the fibres are e.g. corrugated or theircross-section-surface varies along the length. For steel fibres, thethickness or diameter preferably varies from 0.15 to 1.2 mm. Thelength-to-diameter ratio for steel fibres is, for practical andeconomical reasons, mostly situated between 10 and 200 and preferablyminimally amounts to 40. For non-straight fibres, the length is therectilinear distance between the ends of the fibres, whereas thediameter of fibres of which the diameter varies along the length isdefined as the average diameter over the entire length.

As FIG. 1 shows, the reinforcing fibres 3 are preferably situated in asubstantially mutually parallel position in the sack 2. In the event ofsteel fibres, the weight of the total number of fibres per sack 2 variesbetween 100 grams and 2 kg. It is also possible to use without anyproblems sacks weighing more than 2 kg.

The packing and weighing of steel fibres, such as described above, canbe executed in line with the actual production of the steel fibres or onanother spot, separated from the actual manufacturing of the steelfibres. It is e.g. possible to place the steel fibres 3 in a mainlymutual parallel position by means of magnetic forces.

Preferably, the length of the steel fibres 3 is practically identical tothe length of the sack 2 and the steel fibres 3 are situated lengthwisethe sack 2. The chain packing 1 preferably consists of sacks 2 that arejoined in line. It is also possible to make sure that the length of thesteel fibres 3 is practically identical to the width of the sacks 2 andthat the fibres 3 are situated widthwise the sack 2.

Preferably, the packages or sacks 2 are substantially completely filledwith the reinforcing fibres 3 so that the fibres 3 maintain theirmutually parallel position during transport of the packages 2. It hasbeen found that the filling degree of the reinforcing fibres 3 into thepackages 2 should be at least 75% to maintain the mutually parallelposition of the fibres 3 during the transport of the packages 2. Byfilling degree is understood the proportion or ratio between the volumeof reinforcing fibres 3 and the volume of the sack or package 2.

It is obvious that the chain packing 1 according to the invention makesit now possible to easily supply such continuous packings 1 to themixing silo by means of simple means of transportation, such as aconveyor belt, allowing in a simple way by means of a counter to countthe number of sacks 2 or by means of a simple measuring device tomeasure the length of the supplied chain packing in order to easilydefine the supplied weight of reinforcing fibres 3 to the mixing silo.

FIG. 2 shows a chain packing 1, whereby the packages or sacks 2 areconnected by means of one side thereof to a tape or strip 4. The strip 4can be replaced by a wire, a cord or the like. The strip 4 is made of amaterial disintegratable in the concrete to be reinforced.

FIG. 3 shows a chain packing 10, wherein the packages or sacks 20contain reinforcing fibers 30 having a length corresponding to thewidths of sacks 20. Sacks 20 are connected on one side thereof to a tapeor strip 40. The strip 40 can be replaced by a wire, a cord, and thelike. The strip 40 is made of a material disintegratable in the concreteto be reinforced.

1. A reinforcement fiber package, comprising: a) a closed sack having alength made of a package material which is disintegratable in concretewater; b) a plurality of reinforcing fibers having a length beingprovided loosely in the sack; c) the plurality of reinforcing fibersbeing provided in a substantially mutually parallel position in thesack; d) the length of the respective reinforcing fibers beingsubstantially the same as the length of the sack; e) the reinforcingfibers being provided lengthwise in the sack; f) the filling degree ofthe reinforcing fibers being sufficiently full to maintain thesubstantially mutually parallel position of the plurality of reinforcingfibers in the sack; and g) the plurality of reinforcing fibers is madeof steel.
 2. Package as in claim 1, wherein: a) the filling degree ofthe reinforcing fibers is at least 75%.
 3. A reinforcement fiberpackage, comprising: a) a number of closed sacks joined together; and b)each sack having a length and including: i) a package material which isdisintegratable in concrete water; ii) a plurality of reinforcing fibersbeing provided loosely in each sack; iii) the plurality of reinforcingfibers being provided in a substantially mutually parallel position ineach sack; and c) the filling degree of the reinforcing fibers being atleast 75%.
 4. A package as in claim 3, wherein: a) the number of sacksare joined to each other in a line.
 5. A package as in claim 3, wherein:a) the package material includes a cellulose-based foil.
 6. A package asin claim 3, wherein: a) the plurality of reinforcing fibers includesstraight fibers.
 7. A package as in claim 3, wherein: a) the pluralityof reinforcing fiber includes fibers having a variable cross section. 8.A package as in claim 3, wherein: a) the number of closed sacks isjoined to each other by a strip.
 9. Package as in claim 1, wherein: a)the package material includes a cellulose-based foil.
 10. Package as inclaim 1, wherein: a) the plurality of reinforcing fibers includesstraight fibers.
 11. Package as in claim 1, wherein: a) the plurality ofreinforcing fiber includes fibers having a variable cross section.
 12. Areinforcement fiber package, comprising: a) a number of closed sackshaving a length and joined together in a chain, each sack being made ofa package material which is disintegratable in concrete water; b) aplurality of reinforcing fibers having a length being provided looselyin the sacks; c) the plurality of reinforcing fibers being provided in asubstantially mutually parallel position in the sacks; d) the length ofthe respective reinforcing fibers being substantially the same as thelength of the sacks; e) the reinforcing fibers being provided lengthwisein the sacks; f) the plurality of reinforcing fibers being made ofsteel; and g) the filling degree of the reinforcing fibers beingsufficiently full to maintain the substantially mutually parallelposition of the plurality of reinforcing fibers in the sack.
 13. Apackage as in claim 3, wherein: a) the number of closed packages isjoined to each other by a strip.
 14. A reinforcement fiber package,comprising: a) a closed sack having a length and a width, and being madeof a package material which is disintegratable in concrete water; b) aplurality of reinforcing fibers having a length being provided looselyin the sack; c) the plurality of reinforcing fibers being provided in asubstantially mutually parallel position in the sack; d) the length ofthe respective reinforcing fibers is substantially the same as a widthof the sack; e) the reinforcing fibers are provided widthwise in thesack; f) the plurality of reinforcing fibers is made of steel; and g)the filling degree of the reinforcing fibers being sufficiently full tomaintain the substantially mutually parallel position of the pluralityof reinforcing fibers in the sack.
 15. A package as in claim 12,wherein: a) the number of closed sacks is joined to each other by astrip.
 16. Package as in claim 14, wherein: a) the filling degree of thereinforcing fibers is at least 75%.
 17. Package as in claim 12, wherein:a) the filling degree of the reinforcing fibers is at least 75%.